A boy with post-mononucleosis depression

by Alex Leupen

Henk is
18 years old when he comes in November 2005 for the first consultation. Four
months earlier, he had mononucleosis. He is still very tired, feverish and ‘flu-ish’,
and sometimes has a sore throat. He lives at home and did not manage to finish
high school. He went on to do an electro-technique apprenticeshipbut has stopped this temporarily. According
to his mother, he is depressed; he lies in bed and sleeps a lot, wanting to be
left alone. His mother has to bring food to his room, since he will not come to
the table. He is thin and eats irregularly. He becomes irritated with his
mother if she becomes concerned about him. He has two older brothers, 26 and 24
years old. His older brother became depressed and reclusive when he was 17.

He quarrels
with his parents about food because of his refusal to eat many things.

Pregnancy:

His
mother felt “super”. She desired bananas and biscuits and had an aversion to
fried meat. Henk was born early, his
birth went quickly. His mother bled heavily and almost went into shock; like
Henk she has a shortage of Von Willebrand factor. Henk was hypothermic and
spent the first four days in an incubator. He was bottle fed with his mother’s
milk because she was already completely exhausted with two sons at home.

Development:

Walking
at 12 months, talking at 2 years. At 8 years he became over-active, which
improved by curtailing his sugar intake.

Personality:

His
mother describes Henk as a “visual thinker”. He is always ready to help others
but refuses help for himself. He has a fear of failure and has failed his
driver’s license three times. He is sometimes irritable and angry. As a child
he has been teased a lot.

At 16, a
friend of his was murdered at a train station while he was present; he had
refused to hand over his mobile phone and was then stabbed to death. Henk never
told his parents about this, they heard it later from a cousin. Since this
incident he has changed considerably; he has become suspicious and doesn’t
trust people anymore.

Analysis:

The most
noticeable aspects in this case are the tiredness and the listlessness, the poor
appetite, and the fact that he has become withdrawn, aspects which partially
improved with Natrium Muriaticum, Alfalfa (family of Fabaceae/Leguminosae), and
Ytterbium Phosphoricum (stage 16 of Lanthanides) but there was no real
breakthrough. Most remarkable still, was the death of his friend in front of
his eyes and the fact that he said nothing about it at home.

Sankaran
describes the Umberlliferae (Apiaceae) with the following sensations: “Sudden unexpected violence or attack.
Accidents. Blows; preparing for a blow. Riots. Stabs,Wounds. Followed by numbness, stupefaction, dullness and sleep.”

Finally,
Aethusa was chosen as this remedy covers the eating disorders and the tendency
to retreat into seclusion. Aethusa withdraws from the world and mistrusts his
fellow humans. Sometimes this is accompanied by a love of animals more than of
humans, though this is not always the case. Often, we also see undernourishment
or poor absorption of food.

Follow-up:

After a
few doses of Aethusa, Henk literally came out of his room and ate with the
others at the table. He resumed his apprenticeship. His energy returned and two
years later he had a girlfriend.

The experience of sudden unexpected violence was also confirmed with us in 2 con cases. One girl with esophagus atresia developed immune deficiency after she watched her young father suddenly collapse and die in the shower. The other girl vomited every morning for 6 years after she intervened in a death-fight between her father and her mother, when he tried to strangle her. The sensation is often reflected in typical situations.